


Blue

by Hermaline75



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Abduction, Alternate Universe - Historical, Anal Sex, First Time, Folklore, M/M, Sea Monsters, Self-Sacrifice, Vikings, of a sort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 04:25:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5233997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hermaline75/pseuds/Hermaline75
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The girl tells him there are strange creatures in the water, but he doesn't believe her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue

**Author's Note:**

> It's that time of year where it rains for days and everywhere there's a drip, drip, drip and my mind is full of sea myths.
> 
> I've written stuff with [kelpies](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5243417/chapters/12096422) before, but these guys are a bit different (and not really from my neck of the woods, but hey, I tried).

This was a cold land, but Thor's own was colder still. The same wind that hit these shores would also crash onto his homeland, though here it blended with the warm current of the west and almost soothed the rocks and tiny harbours. Not fjords. They did not deserve so grand a title as that. But welcome, nonetheless.

He was almost a veteran of these journeys at 34, having been on dozens of raids and scouting trips. And now the jarl demanded a map, a list of passable routes around the northern part of this island. Surely if the east of it was rich and fertile, the warmer western side must be better still.

But warmth and cold were not great bedfellows, as far as weather was concerned. Thor ought to know. Was not he named for the thunder god himself?

He and his crew sat shivering in one of the strange buildings they had here, all dug into the earth to better shelter from the wind. And yet he feared that being below ground level might lead to drowning. The sheer amount of rain that had fallen was dangerous, far more than usual, the locals said.

And they said it in such hushed tones, whispering, as though afraid they might be punished for voicing it.

This was no way to spend time, cooped up in furs and woolens that were beginning to grow damp and smelly. The wind howling by outside, but not flowing through their hair in the great rush of freedom. The longship lying empty, lodged in wet sand and gravel, when it ought to be flying across the open sea.

"We should leave in the morning," Thor grumbled to whoever was listening, repeating himself using a local tongue that he might be understood by their hosts. "There are yet more islands to list."

The scribe they'd brought to draw their map and note place names nodded sadly. He seemed to be treating this whole journey as some kind of punishment sent by the gods themselves. He never verbally complained, but he was evidently miserable and had been snuffling and shivering since the third day.

One of the local people, a young girl, looked up sharply at his words.

"You mustn't sail to those islands," she said. "Not from here. It's too dangerous."

Thor looked at her with some interest. She couldn't have been older than twelve. What did children know of seafaring?

"A treacherous route, is it?" he asked idly. "Fear not. I have traversed more whirlpools than you have had summers. It does not frighten me."

"Not the route," she insisted. "The storm bringers. Na fir ghorma, the blue men."

"The blue men," he repeated blankly. "Some kind of pirates that traverse these waters?"

"Indeed, no. They are like fairies. Water fairies. They seem like men, but they swim and dive instead of sailing, living in the water. And they are blue, blue as the summer sky, their limbs and hair so long and beautiful. They are the ones who send these rains. Someone must have told them that you planned to sail their waters and now they try to discourage you."

Thor was amused. A story, that was all. Evidently they didn't want him to visit the other islands. Then there much be reason - riches, good farmland, fine resources. Something they wanted to keep from him.

"And what will happen to my crew and I if we dare to sail through the blue men's territory?"

She swallowed hard. It was like she really believed this. She was young. Perhaps she really did.

"They will demand payment," she said. "And if you refuse, they will tear your ship apart with their bare hands."

"What kind of payment? Gold? Food?"

"A man," the girl whispered. "A human life. That is the cost for strangers. Familiar people must pay in song or poetry, for they are such peculiar creatures. Fickle. But beware, for you are strange indeed. No doubt they will demand a life from you."

As if on cue, the wind howled, the girl trembling and Thor laughed heartily.

"Well," he said. "Then that will be one fewer pushy visitor for you."

He was still smiling when the scribe drew close to him, long, nervous fingers clenching, and addressing him in their mother tongue.

"What say you to such a tale, captain?"

A further chuckle.

"No doubt a story meant to scare us or to discourage young explorers. Trust me. I have been warned of many a sea monster. They don't exist. And a good thing too - the ocean is demanding enough as it is without riddles and creatures capable of speech. No, unless the weather is truly impassable, we will go tomorrow."

His scribe still seemed uneasy. Thor swore to learn his name soon.

\--

The gentle hiss of rain upon open water was very dear to Thor. It soothed his soul and made happy shivers run up and down his spine, making him almost serene as they checked and rechecked the longship, preparing to disembark.

His hair was clinging to his head, his clothes soaked right through, but surely the sooner they moved on, the sooner they would outrun this cloudbank.

When they had first arrived, the nearby islands had been visible, so close that they might be touched if you but reached out for them. Now the rain hid them behind a wall of water, a grey screen.

Thor caught sight of the girl storyteller from the night before, clinging to her father's side, and offered her a smile. He got a sad head shake in return. She thought this unwise. Everyone else seemed thoroughly stoic. If there were monsters out there, they weren't saying much.

"My thanks for your hospitality," Thor said to the waiting crowd as the men began taking their places at the oars. "If we pass this way again, I will be sure to remind my fellows that we are friends."

A reassurance, but a threat as well. Do not forget that if you turn us away, we might return with swords.

He waved once more before taking his own seat, hauling his oar like the rest. There was no room on board for one not pulling their weight. Even the scribe, unfit for rowing, had been put to work as a lookout.

And so it was his cries that first warned them, once they were out to sea properly and the rain had become a light drizzle.

"Blue men!" he shrieked. "All around."

Thor sighed. So few would have understood the girl's words. The men had not followed the tale and were now a sea of confused faces.

"Be calm," Thor said. "He is seeing things, that's all."

He thought the first hit was a rock, tensing for fear of an unknown reef that could wreck them, until he heard another and another, calling a halt while he went to investigate.

He nearly fell over the side, hearing the screams of his men as they also saw the truth.

In the water was a gang of maybe twelve people, swimming with their heads and shoulders out of the water, laughing together and their skin so very, very blue. They were playing, taking it in turns to swim at full speed to the boat and slam against it, shoulder first.

"Hey!" Thor yelled, getting their attention and motioning his men to be calm. "Stop!"

They chittered amongst themselves, high-pitched squeaks and clicks like dolphins, before one of them, female by the look of her, swam closer.

"You are captain?" she asked, her voice low and husky, like the crashing of waves. "You command this vessel?"

"Yes. I am Thor and I demand that you cease this attack or face the consequences."

But they weren't listening. The moment he'd said his name, a loud giggle had gone up, their clicking growing frenzied. One of them dived beneath the water and returned with another of their kind, cerulean skin and laughing white teeth. He had high cheekbones and black hair that lay in wet waves down his back.

This newcomer swam close, circling the boat until he seemed satisfied.

"You are Thor?" he asked, a far more human-seeming voice than the other who had spoken.

"Yes. I am captain of this ship."

A delighted laugh.

"I am Loki, prince of these people."

So that's what amused them. Thor and Loki, two gods meeting. It also explained why they spoke his language. They had met others from his land and named their prince for the trickster god.

Thor raised an eyebrow. "Is that supposed to impress me?"

And now the laughter turned to scowling.

"You are at my mercy, _human._ It would be wise not to forget this."

Thor grinned to hide his fear. He had seen all manner of people in his travels, but never such as this. Were they even human? His words suggested otherwise.

"Why, little fish? What do you intend to do?"

Loki matched his grin, showing his pointed teeth, like a whale's, reaching up to him.

"Can I not come aboard, that we may discuss?"

"No strangers allowed on my boat."

"From down here then. You have trespassed in our water, and must pay the toll. You. You come with us to the depths."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then we'll drown you all."

It was said so calmly, without force, not at all like the threat it clearly was. Thor looked back at his crew, at the scribe, the man who had no reason to be out on the sea except a jarl's passing whim. How frightened he was. They all were.

"I come with you and they go unharmed?" he asked.

"The boat and all left upon it will be free to come and go for a song."

The girl had warned him. And he hadn't listened. He thought of home, of the friends who lived there, but no family. Not even parents or siblings anymore. Most of the crew had wives, children, brothers, sisters. His life to save all of theirs? It was obvious what must be done. He tried to calm the fear in his chest, to be brave for their sakes. He would die an honourable death.

"Sail on," he said, giving his last order. "Choose your new captain amongst yourselves. And may we meet again in Valhalla, or wherever dead seafarers go."

He reached down, and grasped Loki's blue wrist in his own, letting himself be pulled under the waves.

\--

As a child, Thor had once nearly drowned in a lake near the village, trying to catch trout in it as the older boys did. He could still remember the pounding of his heart in his ears, the bright light of pain as his lungs screamed to be filled and the desperate coughing when he was dragged thrashing back to the surface.

He used to joke that the water had given him a form of immunity, that it had sworn to make a Balder of him and protect him should he ever be at its mercy again. And then his mother's lips would grow thin and she would beg him not to be so flippant with such dangers.

Time seemed to slow as he saw the pitiful light disappearing above him, Loki's arm about his waist and dragging him deeper. What would they do to him? Would they simply drown him? Would they eat his flesh? Would they toy with him first, like orcas with a seal pup? Would Loki claim the richest parts of his body? Or was he to be fed to their king?

Solid rock beneath his hands was not what he expected, nor for his face to break above the surface, a great gasp of air making him choke and splutter but bringing him life as well.

He was in some kind of a cave, nearly pitch black, the gentle lap of waves echoing.

And then a louder, smoother sound, like something climbing out of the water.

Thor rolled to the side, sitting up with both arms outstretched.

"Stay back. Keep away."

"Or what?" came the reply.

And for that he had no answer.

"You mean to toy with me before my death? Before you devour me?"

"Devour?" Loki said, and he could hear the sound of him moving closer. "Why would I do that? Do you taste particularly fine?"

He laughed and Thor shivered, flinching back as he was touched by warm fingers.

"What do you want with me if not my flesh?"

"Oh, now, I never said that I didn't. I just said I didn't want to eat you."

And how his wrist was seized, dragged forwards and made to touch what his mind helpfully identified after a moment as something akin to seal skin. He'd had gloves of such a material once, so warm and waterproof. But this skin was alive and rippling, firm with the muscles of habitual swimming. Thor couldn't resist as his hand was moved further and further, eventually starting to move by himself in curiosity.

This pleased his captor, letting go of him and moving closer, closer, until he was sat in Thor's lap, encouraging his hands to roam over his back and sides.

"What do you want from me?"

"Have you children, Thor?"

Such a strange question, so unexpected.

"No. I am not married."

"It is difficult, you see. Down here in the water. So few of us, so few fathers. We need more. We need stock."

A creeping suspicion was coming over Thor, a concern about what was really expected of him.

"You mean to keep me as some... some kind of stud horse?"

"What is horse?"

"Erm... I suppose you might call it a kelpie. I have heard the... the land people speak of water horses, and I believe that is what they are called."

Loki hummed, running fingers through Thor's hair.

"I still don't follow. But the fact remains. Our people require more variety in their blood. They think your name is a sign that you were meant for me."

"But you are... You are male. You cannot bear children."

"Bear? What is bear? You speak so strangely, Thor."

His eyes were becoming more accustomed to the darkness and he could just make out a teasing smile.

"You are mocking me," Thor said.

"Only a little. I am trying to make you feel more confident in your ignorance. It is no wonder that you do not know how things are for my people. So let me tell you. I am the only prince yet living, but I am still expected to find a human consort, just as my sisters are. It is our duty to aid our people by finding them. And I had almost given up hope of a suitable match, but then... Then they told me they had found the Thunderer. A man clearly named to match me."

"Your consort must be male, is that it?"

A little frown.

"Of course. There are perhaps one hundred and fifty of us in total, but of those only around fifteen are capable of fertilisation. That is not enough, not really. So my sisters and I take human husbands to create the next generation."

"You mean I... I will spend my days having sex with water fairies?"

It perhaps wasn't the best of all lives, not one he would have chosen, but he could imagine far worse...

"Telling my people that they must sleep with a man of my choosing? That's barbaric. No, you'll spend your days, among other things, having sex with me."

Thor started, jerking back, provoking another little laugh from Loki, who reached out to run a hand over his cheek.

"What is it that you desire, Thor? Be truthful."

"Freedom," he answered.

"What better freedom than the sea? Swim with us. Know what it is to have no lord or jarl. What else?"

"Family."

"We are all like family here. What else?"

"Happiness. Safety. Security, occupation."

"I flatter myself that perhaps I could offer you some of those."

His voice was strangely bewitching, soft and flowing. Thor could feel himself slipping.

"Wait," he said. "How will I father all these young?"

Loki grinned at him.

"Simple. I shall drive you to the heights of pleasure whenever is convenient and wanted, and when a woman wishes to conceive, I shall gather your seed for her. Sometimes, not too often. Mostly we shall make love for pleasure only."

"So why did you let me believe I would drown?"

A laugh. He was growing used to the sound. Either Loki was very easily amused or he was somehow nervous.

"Can you imagine what would happen if it were known by the humans that a matriarchal society in need of fathers dwelt beneath the waves? We would be inundated with men trying their luck, far too many. No, this way is best. We take a variety of good men, those willing to die for their comrades, and frighten away the rest. They leave us in peace. And that, I believe, is all there is to know for the moment. Will you consent?"

Thor hesitated. He would clearly not be released alive and would have little chance of survival even if he reached the surface. The cold would surely kill him. Perhaps he could try it, see how he liked it...

"Are these your chambers?"

"Will you consent?"

Heart hammering in his chest, Thor made a decision.

"Yes."

Loki's mouth met his, tasting of salt though not unpleasantly. He held Thor with a degree of uncertainty and Thor felt sure that this was his first kiss. The story rang true. He could be the man Loki had been awaiting for so long.

"These are not my chambers," he said when they broke apart. "Come. Take a deep breath."

He pulled Thor back into the dark water, dragging him to another cave, this one lit with small lanterns, filled with trinkets and treasures, a sort of bed made from piled cloth and sails in the centre.

"This is where you sleep?" Thor asked.

"Sometimes. Or I can float upon the surface when the sea is calm and watch the stars."

Thor got his first full view of Loki's body as he slipped from the water this time. Long, strong arms. A shapely torso with a delicate curve to the spine. Muscular legs. Truly, he was not badly formed. In fact, he would believe him human if not for the blue flesh. And one other slight difference.

"Your toes!"

Loki looked down, wriggling his little webbed feet.

"You'll get used to them," he said, helping Thor to pull himself from the water.

He was soaked and feeling overdressed, peeling off his sodden clothes while Loki looked on, biting his lower lip. The sail sheets scratched at him, but at least they were dry. He could get used to the water another day.

"Have you...oil or...?"

He had some kind of fat, seal perhaps, what they could use. He also seemed very unsure suddenly, looking upon Thor with something close to fear.

"You were quite the seducer a short time ago," Thor said. "Is the reality more frightening than you expected?"

"I... I didn't expect it to be so big. Your cock, I mean."

Thor's lips were aching to taste him again. He leant forward, pulling him closer. He was growing hard, drunk on desire in a way he hadn't been in years and he found himself wondering if Loki had cast some kind of spell on him.

"I think you will like it," he said softly.

"Will you make it everything I ever dreamed of?"

"Tell me what you dreamed and I will try."

Loki sighed, closing his eyes.

"My consort is gentle with me the first time. He caresses my skin with wonder."

Thor ran his hands over Loki's chest and stomach, down to his legs, seeing his cock twitching despite his worries.

"He kisses my flesh, lets me know that I am safe with him, that he will not hurt me."

Thor pressed his lips to the curve of Loki's hip, a nipple, his sternum, the very tip of his cock, which gained a whimper.

"He eases my legs apart and begins to open me, so gently."

Thor might not be married, but he knew of this act, had done it before. He knew how careful he must be, how much slick was needed, hearing Loki sigh when one finger slipped into him.

"Good?"

"Strange."

"What else? What then?"

Loki wriggled slightly, moaning out when Thor's finger caught something inside him.

"There. There, again. More."

Easing in a second finger, Thor tried to find that spot again, grinning when he found it.

"Do you think you'll like it when my cock hits you right here?" he asked. "Do you think it will please you?"

"Give it to me. Thor, now."

"Not yet. You're not ready."

The pout returned.

"My consort does what I say."

"My prince lets me take care of him."

Loki couldn't hide his smile at that. Thor continued his diligent stretching, using three fingers by the end, before crawling up the lithe blue body before him.

"Look at me," he murmured, brushing their lips together, smiling when sea-green eyes were opened to gaze at him.

"Are you ready, prince?"

"Yes."

Thor reached between their bodies to line up and began to push in, Loki gasping and arching his back at the feeling.

He was so warm inside, warmer than expected, and Thor's moans echoed around the little chamber as he was slowly engulfed right to the hilt.

Loki panted beneath him, thighs locking into place around his hips and eyes closed again.

"Are you alright?"

"Mm. Just... Slowly. Slowly."

He was as gentle as possible, waiting for Loki to start moving in counterpoint, his coiled strength matching Thor's own and making each thrust seem twice as forceful. 

And when he found the right angle...

"Ah! Oh, Thor, yes."

"There?"

"Mmm..."

He was so beautiful, like still, shining water stretching off to the horizon, and Thor fancied that he was wrapped in the arms of the sea itself, moving a little faster to make Loki keen and pant to keep up.

"It feels... Oh, it feels better than I dreamed it would."

High praise. Thor smiled down at him, amazed by how right this felt, by the sudden idea that he could grow to love this prince and be happy. He grew bold, wrapping a hand around Loki's cock and tentatively stroking it, encouraged to speed up by loud yelp that slipped from him.

"Will you spill for me, Loki?"

"Keep going... Oh, keep going."

And so he did, rapidly now, his strokes matching his thrusts almost exactly, until Loki took a great gasp of air, letting it out in little sobs while his cock twitched and spilled in Thor's hand.

It didn't take long for him to follow, drawn over the edge by the grip of Loki's body and the idea that he'd just fucked a legend and the legend had enjoyed it.

Loki squirmed and writhed when he pulled out, enjoying the feeling of being full for a moment before shuffling over to the water to rinse off.

He layered Thor's face in kisses when he came back. Ran his warm hands over his body. Clung to him like a limpet.

"Will you stay?" he asked, the shyness returning, perhaps worried that in his inexperience he hadn't been pleasing enough, hiding his face against Thor's chest.

"Yes."

He felt the smile pressed to his skin as they fell asleep together.

**Author's Note:**

> Wikipedia page on the blue men [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_men_of_the_Minch). As far as I know they have never been reported taking men as what are basically sperm donors, but I needed a reason, so...


End file.
